


The prince and the pauper

by Yellowbirdbluetoo



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: ?? - Freeform, Alternate Universe - Royalty, M/M, Prince Lance - Freeform, Rouge Keith
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-03
Updated: 2019-04-03
Packaged: 2019-11-08 09:51:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,671
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17979110
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yellowbirdbluetoo/pseuds/Yellowbirdbluetoo
Summary: Summary in description.(Klance Princess and the pauper au)(To be specific the Barbie princess and the pauper au)





	The prince and the pauper

**Author's Note:**

> Lance is a prince, who technically isn’t locked in a tower but quiznack, it sure feels that way sometimes. He’s always busy with future-king duties. Lessons after lessons after lessons. Honestly, it’s not hard to understand why Allura ran away a few weeks ago. But to leave the kingdom without any future ruler would be devastating. If he has to give up childish things like stealing snacks from cooks (is it really stealing if his best friend works in the kitchens) and hiding around the castle spooking the guards, then that’s what he’ll have to do. 
> 
> Even if he doesn’t want to keep ruling in what feels like a dictatorship, he has no choice but to serve Altea. 
> 
> -/-
> 
> Keith is a common thief. A ‘Rouge’ as the Kingdoms people like to call him. He’s also one of the only of mix of Galra/human that he knows. 
> 
> It’s not hard to see the division between Alteans and Galrans. After fleeing their planet more than a hundred years ago, they are still seen as ‘less than Altean’. He has to steal to get by and help in the underground network that works constantly to overthrow the Altean empire and instead of acquiring peace, rule themselves. 
> 
> Even though he doesn’t want to start a war, he has no choice but to play his role.

“And so, to have a proper lesson in diplomacy you would of course need all your text books, which I notice you have failed to bring once again, young Sire”. Lance looks up, started from where he had been gazing out of the window, and sighed when he saw his diplomacy teacher giving him that expecting look again.

It’s the look everyone’s been giving him for the past three months-almost four now- that Allura’s been away. 

“Uh, sorry Elio. I’m just-“.

“Distracted?”. Elio guesses, moving away from the holo-screens and sitting next to Lance. “My liege, if I may be so bold-“.

“You may always be”. Lance interrupts, with a smirk. 

“I know you’ve been...in a tough place since Princess Allura ran away and you’ve had to assume her duties, but this-“.

“Is important and as future king, I have to be well versed in everything from Past kings to future planets. I know I know”. He huffed and rolled his eyes. “Dads given me the same speech at least three times this week. It’s my duty. For Altea”. Elio sighs. “That being said, I wouldn’t protest against you having an early end to the lesson today”. Lance’s head shot up. “Early?”. He stood immediately. “You mean I can go?”. Elio chucked, brushing his long white hair out of his face, putting it in a ponytail slowly and Lance swore he was gonna burst if he didn’t respond. “Elioooo”. He groaned when the older Altean had the gall to smirk at him. “Yeah. Get out of here. I’ve got some shopping to do anyhow”. He ruffles Lance’s hair briefly, and Lance shot him a quick thankful grin before sprinting out of the room. 

Elio has been playing to role of older brother that he’d never had. Even though Allura was missing, it was nice to feel as if he had another sibling. 

He remembered the exact morning she’d disappeared. It was common palace knowledge that Allura took early morning strolls, or wandered off into the town to cause a bit of mischief, so no one batted an eye at her not being seen at the castle before breakfast. 

But then lunch. 

And then dinner. 

The entire castle had fallen into chaos. Their father especially. After his mother passed away, Allura was next in line and he himself wouldn’t be of age for years. Lance, at the time, felt a weird panicked calm, as if Allura would’ve walked through the huge crystal doors any moment. 

But she never did. After nearly two weeks had passed, his royal maid came in his room, dumped what looked like a hundred scrolls onto his desk were he had been writing down some scattered song lyrics, and said he was taking up a number of royal future classes. 

“You will be taking up your sisters duties, until, or if, she does return”.

Even though he hadn’t said it with his words, Lance knew that was his fathers way of saying he had already accepted that Allura would never be found. 

-/- “Shiro. I’m old enough to go on runs now, I swear”.

Keith huffed as Shiro gave him ‘that’ look. Again. The one that meant he was definitely wearing him down and it would only take a bit more begging to get what he wanted. (Shiro protested it was his ‘discipline face’. Like the one he used for the troops. It definitely wasn’t). 

He say across from Shiro at their dusty table. Everything was dusty in their underground home. “Look. I turned seventeen nearly a year ago, I’ve done raids before-“.

“Against my say so”.

“Yeah but I completed them. That’s gotta count for something. I’m tired of just stealing things from unaware bakers”. He slumps in his seat, glaring at his older brother. “I wanna get out of this... of this dumb prison!”.

“This is not prison!”. And now Shiro was definitely mad. Or at least totally ticked off. He knew it was a tough topic for Shiro, he’d been trapped in an Altean prison for nearly a year, for some minor crime Keith couldn’t even remember. He couldn’t have even been older then six at the time. He’d been coddled, told by other Galra around him that his brother was away on a re:con mission. A long one. 

Krolia was the one tucking him in to bed for most of that time. Feeding him the lies. He was the one who had to sneak out of his room one night, to find his brother back. He’d had to resist running to see him immediately when he heard Krolia speak. 

“Are you going to tell him? Keith?”.

Shiro groaned. He sounded in pain. “No. He’s a child I can’t- I can’t do that to him. He can’t see my like this. In the morning when I’m rested. I’ll.. tell him I got hurt of the mission. But I’m okay”.

Krolia didn’t speak for a moment. “Keith is smart. He is one of the most clever of children I’ve met. I haven’t met many, but I doubt he’d fall for your lie”.

Shiro grunted again. “He’ll be so happy to see me, I don’t think he’ll care what happened as long as I’m back”.

“...very well”.

And Keith had went back to bed, and tried to fall back asleep, and in the morning he pretending he had heard nothing at all. 

“Whatever!”. Keith said, top worked up to listen to Shiro’s obsessive protectiveness any longer. He stood up forcefully, ignore Shiro’s order to come back, and stormed out of the house. 

-/-

‘The town is so much more interesting then the castle’. Lance thinks, tugging his cloak further down over his face. 

He is royalty, and even though guards are crawling the castle grounds and town as well, it’s not completely safe. 

Worse, they’d probably tell his father and make him go back to the castle and study something else boring like ‘most influential elements of our time:dirt edition’. Ugh

It’s as if something’s brewing in town. Atlean and Galra relations have never been the best, but as of late it seemed on the edge of bubbling over into something... bad.

Town is still vibrant, no matter what’s brewing underneath. It’s freedom, and new fruits and snacks and he’s already bought two candied dobrons(no clue what they were) but they tasted heavenly. 

He makes his was towards the town square, which is normally where he finds the best street performers who, for a few coins, will play music that would make the palace people faint. 

He doesn’t know the name for it. If it were a texture it’d be rough, and it’s loud too. It’s a perfect expression for his mood of late, when he’s trapped in the palace walls late at night, thinking of his sister and father and mother, and everything unfair with his life before getting up to do it again. 

“Oof!”.

He trips, and barely manages to catch himself with his hands to keep from face planting into the dirt. 

“Hey, excuse you?”. He says, turning to face whoever knocked him over. He’s definitely in what Allura calls his ‘royalty mode’. His nose in the air, looking down on someone. Asserting some kind of pompous yet powerful dominance. 

The person has a cloak on and doesn’t even bother turning around as he speaks a ‘whatch where your going’ and disappears into the crowd. 

Lance rolls his eyes, dusting off his clothes. ‘Probably a Galra with how rude they were’ he thinks, glaring off in the distance of the other person. Not worth following him, he was in too much of a hurry 

With a undignified) huff, he turns around to keep walking and puts the rude townsperson out of his mind. 

-/-

Keith is in such a bad mood that tying his cloak around his shoulders takes two more minutes then it should, and he growls at it, yanking the strings and nearly choking himself in the process. 

He makes sure to slam the door behind him, to let Shiro know he’s really mad. Pissed. Livid? Maybe that’s too far. 

It’s just bizarrely unfair how he’s more qualified than some of the so called ‘palace guards’ And yet he can’t go on any missions. 

He’s so lost in his angry thoughts that when he bumps into someone, he barely mangers to stay upright. 

Can’t be said about the other guy, who falls to the ground with a very undignified yelp. He spares a glance at the boys sparkly purple cloak. 

He doesn’t stop to apologize or help him up. “Watch where your going”. He murmurs loud enough to be heard before disappearing into the crowd. 

Why give anyone a reason to look at him. He slips down another crowded street, just in case he’s being followed. 

He would show Shiro he could do missions. He peers down at the crumbled paper in his hand that he’d ripped from the mission wall, somehow without Shiro noticing.

‘Secure rendezvous point for food income’ was scrawled on it. It had been low on the wall, a beginners mission, but he wasn’t gonna push his luck. 

Apparently some shop, one known for having a Galra and Altean owner was getting hooked up with a major supply. Of course they’d be stealing from right under the Altean’s nose, but hey, sacrifices had to be made. 

It was scheduled to be done tonight. All he had to do was let the Galra know it was still on, get the point of where they’d strike, and get it back to Shiro. Then he’d have to let him go on missions. 

The shop, ‘Gabrons and Yethins’ is a medium sized building and he enters it with his head held down. Drawing attention to himself wouldn’t be good. He’s just a Galra in an Altean(but half Galra) store. He begins making his was to the front counter. 

Galra’s aren’t allowed to shop at Altean stores unless given permission. Most Galra stores didn’t even have good wares, and barely got by. To get a job as a Galra, you had to be strong enough to be a factory worker, or nimble enough to make wares. Keith was not old enough yet for either. And even then pay was scarce. 

“Hey, you!.” A hand lands roughly on his shoulder and he is turned around roughly to come face to face with an Altean guard, glaring at him. “What’re you doing in here? This is an Altean owner store kid, get lost”.

Keith scowls at him. Before he can speak though, and gruff voice comes from behind him. 

“Excuse me officer, I am co-owner of this store, and Galra are indeed allowed in. I’d hate to report you for harassing my customers”. 

A hand on his shoulder again, but meatier. Galran definitely. 

The guard seems frustrated but relents and leaves grumbling something under his breath about Galra. Keith breaths a sigh of relief and turns to face... a really small Galra?

“Your the owner?”. He doesn’t mean to sound incredulous but he’s never met a small Galra before. He gives a toothy smile. “Names Arkanzo, kid. What can I help you with?”.

Keith’s mind goes blank. ‘Shit, what was the Galra code sign thing?’

He holds up his hand, and lowers the fourth finger and thumb quickly enough to be seen, then shoves it in his pocket. 

Arkanzo’s face shifts quickly. “Come with me”. He whispers and Keith is pulled through the store past the counter, and into a back room. 

-/-

‘Kinda tired of this consti-tution! Think we’re gonna need a reve-lution!’ 

Lance whoops and nods along to the song. Galra’s don’t often play music on the square, and even now he can see some of the Altean musicians frowning at him, but the Galra playing some stringy instrument doesn’t seem to care. It’s angry and aggressive and all the emotions he feels on a daily basis. 

He whoops again just for the thrill of it and when the song ends he dumps a handful of coins into his hat. 

“Hey thanks! I’m Wenel”. They shake hands. He’s young, nearly the same age as Lance if not older. Maybe Allura’s age. Lance grins. “Awsome song dude! You should go full time!”. He blushes. “O-oh I couldn’t”. He’s already packing up his things. Lance takes note once again of the Altean musicians sneering their way. 

“Why not? It’s really good. Very... emotional”. Wenel shakes his his head. “Nah, it’s not very safe for me. But it brings in some money for my family sometimes”. He shoots a worried glance towards the Altean musicians. “I gotta go, see ya around!”.

Lance waves goodbye, but then a thought strikes him. “Wait, what’da mean not safe?”. But Wenel is already lost in the crowd. He lets his gaze linger, the. shrugs. Maybe being a musician is a dangerous job. 

He turns to head down another street and a very unmanly sound escapes him when he sees a cute doggorf(a young one too) happily basking in the attention of a bunch of children, Altean and Galran alike. 

One the kids, a Galra, seems shy when he approaches and crouches down the pet the animal. It’s barks happily and rolls onto it’s back and the kids laugh. 

A little Altean girl in pigtails taps him. “This is Arf. He’s kinda stupid, but he’s very cute!”. She hands him a dog treat and he feeds it to Arf, who munches it happily. 

The kids burst into giggles again and Lance joins in. “He is very cute. Why do you call him stupid?”.

The little girl smiles. “He keeps running away and takes forever to come back. And he runs into a lot of walls. He’s just dumb, but it’s okay we love him anyway”. She scoops the dog into a hug, barley holding him up, and carries him into a nearby shack, that must be here house and the group of kids follow. 

Lance smiles after than, before standing and walking down the street. 

-/-

“You look a bit young to be a transporter”.

Arkanzo is giving him a weird look and Keith just keeps his head down over the map they’ve been peering over the past twenty minutes, making sure the path is safe and efficient. 

“I’ve been told”. His reply is stilted. 

Arkanzo gives a huff. “I know what it’s like to get into things like this, it’s what you raised on and they’re who you idolized. But getting into this young is dangerous, and-“.

“You don’t know anything about me, I know what I’m doing”. He replies curtly, eyes meeting Arkanzo’s in a cold glare. 

Arkanzo doesn’t flinch, or yield back like most of the other younger Garla’s who seek out Keith’s company and are faced with his icy personality. He just rolls his eyes, and runs a hand through the fur behind his ears. “Okay whatever”. He waves a hand over the map which now is covered in markings and instructions”. This should be good, send your best some of the guards here are a bit over-cautious”. He frowns. 

“If they spot more then two of ya in the area in your funky spy get-up they’ll be on all ya like Garbons on a jep. You don’t want that. You need to be in and out, don’t bring a whole army but don’t just bring two of you. It’s a heavy haul this month”.

Keith nods and accepts the rolled up map, stuffing it in a pocket under his cloak. “Thanks”.

Arkanzo grins. “So, what do I tell the guy who comes in her looking for his info?”.

Keith freezes, and Arkanzo laughs. “Alright, kid get out of here. I’ll let em know it’s all covered. Get home safe ‘kay!”.

Keith sends a grateful glance. “I will. Bye”.

He slides around the guard, and slips back out into the streets. 

-/-

It’s reaching sunset. He’s been gone nearly all day’ Lance realizes. “Better get home”. He murmurs. Not that there’s anything fun to get back to. -:-

**Author's Note:**

> Wow this just popped into my head but hey maybe I’ll actually finish a fic for once. 
> 
> -/-  
> So au where instead of Altea and Galra planet being destroyed and war starting within Altean vs Galra , Galra planet is destroyed over an eon ago, and at the time the Altean’s allow Galrans to station at their planet and it just becomes a thing that they stay but standards and rules don’t change and it’s more of that Galrans aren’t equal as it should be.  
> -/-
> 
> Royalty/Kinda Romeo and Juliet Klance au. Think Alladin but more in depth. Basically princess and pauper au.


End file.
